Doctor Who: “A Good Man Goes to War” Review (Spoilers)

I’ll have to admit to putting off watching this episode, even though it had already aired a week later here in the United States than in the UK. But as it was spoiled for me several times via Twitter, I almost didn’t watch it at all. But I’ve discussed people who post spoilers on Twitter at length, so won’t get into that again.

Instead, let’s talk about the episode, shall we?

So “A Good Man Goes To War” starts off where we left off in “The Almost People.” Amy is being held on some planet and she has given birth to her daughter, Melody Pond. Technically, though, she’s Melody Williams, but as this name was a plot device (and really… a WAY too simple one), that’s what they called her.

These people have captured Melody to use as a weapon against the Doctor. Because the Doctor has people running scared of him. Let’s face it, he can be very scary.

And in this episode, he’s pretty terrifying. I saw a lot of similarities to David Tennant’s Doctor during his final season and the special episodes in Matt Smith’s performance. And honestly, I don’t like this version of the Doctor, especially since we’ve only had 1 1/2 seasons of Smith. This dark scary Doctor, unfortunately, leads the stories in very dark and un-fun places and after awhile, the show stops feeling like a fun adventure and more like something that you have to watch, not out of fun, but out of duty.

However, Smith gives such an amazing performance in this episode, I can forgive he and the writers for that.

But I will not forgive them for River Song. My theory about River Song being the Rani was one million times better than the predictable answer that we got. Yes, River Song is Melody Pond, the daughter of Rory and Amy. And even when that was spoiled for me on Twitter, I was more disappointed at that fact than the actual spoiler. TOO PREDICTABLE.

Kudos to Alex Kingston, though, for still giving the episode some emotional gravitas. And Arthur Darvill’s Rory is getting very close to being my favorite companion, right up there with Donna Noble. This episode was not quite as Amy-centric as previous ones and for that, I was grateful.

But still, I would have been happy had my River Song theory been the answer. Because it was so much better than what we’ve been given.

In spite of my disappointment, though, I really did like this episode. I’ve honestly been displeased with most of this season, save for the excellent “The Doctor’s Wife.” But this episode managed to pull me in and tug at some heartstrings, all the same.

So what did you think? Were you disappointed or thrilled at the River Song reveal? Leave me a comment and let me know.